Time of Knight
by Lady Lightyear
Summary: TLK AU: She had once been told that time is what found leaders, and its presence formed one such. That, it seemed, had proven true - time away from him had taught Mira Lennox much about not only herself but the world - and people - he had left behind. But, it had also revealed the times of the age, and the age of time. They needed him back - in more ways than one.
1. Prologue

It had been so long – so long, that time seemed immeasurable. So long since they had glimpsed his soul across the stars – longer, it seemed, than time itself.

In all reality, it hadn't been as long as anyone had remembered. But, when you lose hope and the world around you crumbles helplessly around your feet in shambles, it seemed that time was really the only thing left. And, it is the only thing you bet your tomorrows on. Time, and whatever hope remains among the ruins.

Time was the one thing they were losing.

And, it was time he came home.


	2. Chapter One

**Author's Note _:_** Greetings, acolyte's! Welcome to the newest object of my attention, _Time of Knight!_ As promised - and, as you may have guessed - I have seen the newly launched _The Last Knight_ , and have already configured Mira's story and am ready to share it with the galaxy. After a painful night of reworking and plotting and internet scouring, I have manage to compile the first chapter. **Also note, the knight forseen in the cover art does not belong to me, but _avvart_ on deviantart.**

As many of you know already, this is a continuation fic of my series starring Mira Lennox, a character I created during the _Age Of Extinction_ film, where she made her launch. Mira's story has garnered a fair amount of attention in this corner of the world, and she's taken her place in my heart and in my world, too. I hope someday to fully write her stories according to each Bayverse film, but for right now, I'm happy with wrapping up _Uprising of Extinction_ and bringing you this piece, _Time of Knight._ I already said I would probably end up launching this before I finished my _AOE_ fic, but that's okay. I'm fairly confident that will be wrapped up within two or three chapters anyway.

Moving on - as you know, this is AU, because this is fanfiction and that is what we do here. I've changed some things up to sync it up with the universe timeline I created in Mira's original story, _Uprising of Extinction._ Lots of it has transferred over. If you're worried about me following the movie, it will be just as I said regarding the _AOE_ fic - there will be many changes, but I will follow the plot of the movie as story permits. There will, inevitably, be changes.

Anyway - I think that's all I have to say. I am beyond stoked to start this journey with you, and I am even more excited to go and see the movie again the Sunday of this update! I can only hope to do this justice, and finish it before the next movie releases in 2018. Until then...here we find ourselves. Reviews and feedback are appreciated - I can only hope this garners the attention of fans just like _Uprising of Extinction_ did!

* * *

 _There is much that separates our worlds, yet._

 _Even though the Transformers have dared to call our home theirs, there is much about us they do not understand – and there is much more about them that has yet to be revealed. For, there are many secrets buried in our soil, waiting to be birthed – and, there are many secrets buried in the civilization that fate has entwined us with._

 _For many years the Transformers rested hidden on our world, foreign observers to our culture and our way of life, after destiny had driven them to us and away from their own sanctity, Cybertron. They watched observantly, and quietly, as we meandered through life as a primitive species, only to reach up through time and gain advancement and progress. And yet, through every civilization our world has known, the Transformers had known it, too. They have been the guardians of time, it seems – time, and history; standing at the forefront of desperation and change that would threaten to overrun their refuge world. They have been the guardians, silently standing by, and allowing us passage while providing silent counsel and guidance._

 _And yet, they have not managed to guard destiny, for that is upon us, now._

* * *

"Well – considering that you managed to snag it from a Goodwill pile, I don't think it's half bad." The brunette ran her hand over the smooth back of the moto jacket, looking up to the individual standing before her. "I actually think it's quite nice. Thanks."

The individual in turn, a short and stout Transformer known to the light of day as Daytrader, gave a confirming nod and put his hands on his overly rounded hip-plating, before he reached up and ran his fingers through his knarled, shard-beard. "Ah, I knew you'd fancy it, darlin'! I brought it just for ya – whaddya got to trade for it?" As he shifted his weight to bend down and properly catch her eye level, items reigned down from the overly large pack of junk bolted to his back.

Unfazed, he didn't seem to notice the brunette cringe from her place on the ground. She flinched, shrugged her shoulders forward, and looked down to the offending object that had fallen from the alien figure before her – a stove, now half crumpled, that she was sure had been nearly ancient history before its fall. Cocking a brow, she crossed her arms in front of her and squinted behind her sunglasses, glancing up at the figure.

He seemed to hesitate in his response to her body language, but ultimately waved off the occurrence and turned to glance to his eleven o'clock, where a party had gathered to observe the two's business. The brunette just sighed, shook her head, and tossed the jacket over her shoulder as she passed by the Transformer, ultimately irked but not surprised at his behavior.

She bypassed two piles of sorted scrap, before she flashed a thumbs up at the other Cybertronian that looked down at her, shaking his head. Hound removed his "cigar" from his mouth and flicked the end of it, before he replaced it back in the craw of his mouth and set to leaning against the small lean-to building known as their base of operations. It dipped slightly beneath the added weight and creaked out a moan, but he didn't seem to mind terribly. Instead, he just rested his thumb in his ammunition belt, and watched the show which was Daytrader's attempt to follow the brunette.

Known to world once as Mira Lennox, the brunette slipped into the building past a stack of growing, out-dated appliances and tossed the jacket on the front counter of what had once been the main-office. She glanced out the jagged remains of the broken front window out into the ocean of scrap and other typical junkyard memorabilia, and sighed again before she slipped off the jean jacket she'd been wearing and slipped into the new moto she'd just adopted from Daytrader's daily assortments of trade items.

The metal implant on her left wrist snagged the sleeve's hem only slightly, but Mira made it work easily with a stretch. Lifting her curls out from the jacket, she situated them over her shoulder and pulled at the hem of the jacket, before she dusted off the arms and glanced down her front. It seemed to fit her nicely, in all the right places, and had the right length in the sleeves. It was a cognac color, with an assortment of front pockets and zippers, and fit her just slightly above the waist. It was slightly faded and had a few oil and grease smears, and a couple of snags along the zipper, but it wasn't terrible – especially for an overhauled find. Compared to her withered and frayed jean jacket, it was a much-needed upgrade.

She slipped her sunglasses on top of her head and folded the jean jacket under her arm before she plucked the belt from the counter and draped it over her shoulder. Outfitted with a M9 pistol and a sharpened bowie knife, it had traversed everywhere with her since she had returned from Bogota, Colombia some two years previous. Once she ducked out of the small building, glanced up at the bot standing to her right with arms folded in front of his chest did she realize that Daytrader was having a… _colorful_ argument with Drift, who had just come from a meditative agility practice across the scrapyard.

Drift's posture said enough about his current mood, and Mira could tell it wasn't a positive one, despite his meditative reprieve from the day's normal activities, probably in large due to Daytrader's unannounced - and thus undesired - presence. "I don't _care_ for your wares, Daytrader," the couth Autobot samurai said with the utmost collection to his tone, "Now, let me pass –"

Daytrader would not be denied, however, and slapped Drift's shoulder good-naturedly."Aww, c'mon, Drifty – you gotta need _somethin'_!"

Drift visibly recoiled - whether from the use of the name, or the gesture, Mira wasn't sure which. At the use of this name, however, Mira gave pause and looked up at the Autobot warrior. She shielded her eyes against the sun, which glinted off his superb paint job of black and scarlet, only to find that he had narrowed his optic ridges at the trader and taken a step forward. Mira's lower lip rolled inward in anticipation of what he would do – she knew that look _well._ In every honesty, she'd been on the receiving end of that look many times.

Before anyone could anticipate what Drift would do next, he had already smoothly plucked up his blade and had the tip pressed slightly against Daytrader's belly. One wrong move would have the business-bot run through the gut, and Mira gasped before she hustled to intercept the scene. Despite Drift's calm and collective aura, he was not beyond brash decisions, and Mira didn't need a fight - especially a fight with Daytrader, a bot who was known for his loose deals as much for his mouth than any other bot she'd ever known.

Hound seemed to understand the severity of the situation as well, but did not move to engage. Drift was crouched low in a traditional fighting pose, and Daytrader's hands were raised in the air in a show of surrender. His wares continued to reign down from above Mira as he trembled and backpedaled away, and she had to dodge them as Drift edged forward graciously, as if the bot were floating instead of walking. His steps hardly seemed to even move the earth under his massive weight.

Mira reached out for Drift, as if it would curb his sudden urge. "Drift!" She ordered him, propelling herself up onto the hood of an rusted Dodge Dart, "For Primus sake, Drift, stand _down_ ," she put her hands up and looked to Daytrader, "And – if you know what's good for you, Daytrader, you'll get on out of here before I lose my temper." She narrowed her eyes at him and then crossed her arms, as if to solidify her point in full.

At Mira's intervention, Drift let out a snort and a light snarl of annoyance before he stood fully to his normal stance, and sheathed his blade at his side. He folded his arms in front of him, took a commanding posture, and nodded down to Mira in understanding that he had received his superior's orders. Satisfied, Mira nodded at him and then quirked a interested brow at Daytrader.

"Yeah, then we'll all be up a crick without a fraggin' paddle," Hound waved off the waresman and rolled his optics, letting out a snort of disgust. "Hope to see ya 'round, Daytrader – never." He cackled at his own joke, and scratched at his head.

Nodding his understanding, the disgruntled bot sneered at the crew before he turned away and meandered down the lane of scrapped vehicles, mumbling to himself. As he left, a trail of fallen trinkets followed him, hitting the ground and puffing up small clouds of dust as he made his retreat. Once Mira had confirmed he had cleared the gate, she shook her head and looked down at the moto jacket she'd donned.

"Well, at least I got a good jacket out of him today," she mumbled, and then craned her neck back to study the two Autobot's before her. "Thank gosh he's gone. I was getting sick of dodging falling scrap."

Drift made a disgusted noise, followed by a mocking look. "I was losing my patience with him altogether," he said, then dusted off his shoulder paneling, "and that is a true shame, indeed."

Mira's mouth quirked upwards in a smile – Drift hadn't changed much in all the many years of hardship and drudgery their band of Autobots had been through. Actually, as she stepped off the back of the Dart and looked around, Mira realized that she and her friends actually _had_ changed more than she had realized since the Bogota incident. But, people – and Autobots – changed under drastic circumstances, by necessity more than choice.

The world had reacted manically after Lockdown had been defeated in Bogota, Colombia. America had continued to expel Autobots and any Transformers, disbanding its primary _Cemetery Wind_ operation in favor of a more developed, military-centered operation known as _TRF,_ or the _Transformer Resistance Force._ They had been on a tirade to eradicate Transformers since much of the civilized world had excommunicated the Cybertronian race – what they couldn't capture, they killed. And eventually, they killed what they captured too, depending on the situation and who was in charge.

Chicago had become all but a No Man's Land – _TRF_ had overtaken the city and quarantined much of it off, due to alien activity. Since Bogota, and Optimus Prime's call into space to rally any and all Autobots, the Cybertronians had fled to the planet in numbers upwards of the hundreds – for two years, they came to earth to make it their home, only to be greeted by a less than welcoming race of hostiles and enemies. Mira understood that her brethren sought refuge and reprieve from sojourning across the stars, and that they desired a home of their own, once again. But, much of the known world did not understand, nor support the foreigners; instead opting to eradicate them and eliminate them through any and all means necessary.

Resistance was little to none – not equipped technologically or numerically, the Autobots had fled under the radar, and gone dark. Instead of pushing back the system, Mira instead opted to lead her people out of sight and mind, and had instead taken on a more accessory approach to the conflict: she had opted to welcome the Autobots to earth, and make sure they were safe, and provided them whatever aide she could manage. The Autobots who had joined her after Bogota had too dropped dark, and they had moved away from their once-role of the military unit of _NEST_ , and instead operated as a rebellion simply known as _Tenebris._

Things had been dark for what had felt like ages – with Optimus Prime's departure from earth had also hearkened the departure of structured leadership and vision, as well as hope. Mira, having been given charge of the Autobots as the Cybertronian Countess of Iacon, had been left in charge of a sinking ship, essentially – she had to piece together what Earth had done a successful job of breaking part, and that was no easy task. Optimus, though, had commissioned her with the task – and how could she deny her Prime, her best friend, and her leader that request?

What made it more difficult was the fact that she bore both the title of Countess, which was a military decoration, and also the Keeper of the Shield of the Matrix of Leadership – a more political decorum, according to Cybertron. As the Keeper, she was dedicated to the Matrix and shared a guardian bond with Optimus Prime unlike any other in recorded Cybertronian history. And, as Countess, she bore the military responsibility of leading the Autobots to what had once been victory, but now had resorted to survival. Her guidance, and wisdom, was at a constant peak – and, she was afraid that somewhere over the horizon, there was a plateau that would take her sheer over the cliff of failure.

That had all come and passed. Now remained the fact that she was in charge of a group of renegade Cybertronians that not only desired freedom, but also sanctuary. Everyday Mira welcomed the challenge of transitioning space travelers to her world, while simultaneously daring a tango with the government. Somehow, she had managed to outsmart them and stay two steps ahead – sometimes, that was ahead and veered right in the dark, while at others it was off to at her three o'clock, hiding in the wreckage. Whatever the case, she had stayed two steps ahead, but the world was edging closer with their developments and pressuring her by breathing down her neck. She couldn't keep up the dance much longer – one day, she'd misstep, and the operation of the Autobots would be over.

Her shoulders were heavy with responsibility, and she needed guidance. She needed Optimus Prime, wherever he was, to come home – not only to her, but also his people. Time was not favorable, and was no respecter of persons. Situations, less.

Mira reached up and tapped the implant that crowned her left eye like a crescent moon, and then tapped the added implant on her left ear – immediately, a channel began to encrypt, and she checked the status of her team. Most of them were still in the scrapyard – most being Hound, Crosshairs, Drift, Wheelie, and the Dinobots. Key figures were missing, of course – Sideswipe and Bumblebee – as they made their daily patrols. It had become a habit for her to check their whereabouts, more for her own peace of mind than theirs. The last thing she needed was unaccounted for Autobots – and the last thing Earth needed was MIA Cybertronians with a harbored vendetta. Of course, Optimus was among those not accounted for - but, if there was something not to worry about, it was him; though Mira worried everyday for her greatest friend, regardless.

She stuffed her hands into the pocket of the moto jacket, satisfied with their depth and feeling. Scuffing her boots along the ground, she watched with her right eye as the dust cloud settled over her combat boots, while her left eye processed intel and feedback from the implant in her eye – she'd received these implants as a result of her christening into Cybertronian influence, and had since embraced their presence within her body.

Aboard Lockdown's ship, she'd received a coded message – only by the presence of the Matrix, she was sure – from Alpha Trion, Optimus' mentor on Cybertron, whom had told her that she had been found worthy and chosen in the eyes of the Matrix. Since that day, she'd been outfitted with the Cybertronian tech, and had lost vision and hearing in her left ear and eye. It hadn't taken long to adjust, but there were days when she had missed full sight and vision – but, Mira wouldn't complain. Her life had been literally transformed, and for that she had felt honored.

Her head snapped up to glance ahead, where something fell into the pathway a few feet ahead of her. Mira braced, and reached for the pistol at her side in reflex. She relaxed only when she saw the small Dinobot skitter up ahead. It paused to process her, squeaked in joy, and hurried back into the scrap to rummage further – Mira had to shake her head and chuckle, as she glanced ahead and headed for the small trailer.

The windows were illuminated with light, and the screen door was open, which had explained the small Cybertronian's release. She scuffed her boots again, flung a handful of her curls over her shoulder, and tromped up the steps into the small trailer to take in the miniature living area and kitchen. Her brow spiked in surprise to what she saw, and she leaned against the door-frame to cross her feet at the ankles as she processed it.

Cade Yeager sat passed out on the couch, a bottle of Bud Light at hand and resting on his knee. His head was craned back and folded over the edge of the couch, and his feet were propped up on a stack of boxes and crossed at the ankles. He snored lightly, his unkempt hair fallen over his forehead, and his leather jacket was resting across his lap lazily. Mira flattened her lips and shook her head, heaving a sigh at the man splayed out on her couch. She pushed herself from the doorway, and stepped inside, crossing two paces to grab the jacket and beer from the inventor's hand.

Yeager had come into her life by happenstance – he had been the force that had reunited her with Optimus after three years of distance between them after the Chicago and Sentinel Prime fiasco. That had been a year after Will Lennox, her husband and source of surname, had died fighting _Cemetery Wind_ in Mexico which was now three years in history.

Cade and his only daughter, Tessa, had stumbled into the intergalactic war with both feet, and had been unshakable since – and, not only had they rocked the world of the Autobots, they'd shaken up Mira's life, too. Since Bogota and the invasion of Lockdown, Mira and Cade had been – somehow – romantically attracted to each other, and involved. And by involved, Mira meant in every way – they had married a year previous, right after Homeland Security had done a successful job of making them outlaws, and before it had been impossible to obtain a legal marriage license. Needless to say, they had cut it close – it had taken two weeks and a lot of dodging hoops to make it happen, but happen it had. Despite the fact that Will had been gone a total of three years, Mira had still felt a small piece of him fall away as she'd taken vows with Cade Yeager, though somehow she knew she'd always be a Lennox, even while she loved being a Yeager.

In part of that, she knew she would always have the shadow of Will Lennox that followed her; resurrected in her only child, Merrick Lennox, who had taken the surname Yeager in addition to her marriage. He had been five when Will had died, and six when he had first experienced the Autobot's, and had thrived since. However well a child could flourish living off the radar and as the child of a rebellious leader, Merrick had – he had just turned eight years old three weeks ago, and was loving life as rambunctiously as any child could.

Mira lifted Cade's jacket and set the beer aside, before she paused and leaned over Cade to quirk a small smile at him – he was a delightful sleeper, in the fact that he snored only lightly, and made the funniest facial expressions during his dreams. Mira hardly slept anymore, and most often spent her nights beside him, just watching his body and the way he moved subconsciously. She had done it with Will, too, during their _NEST_ days as a husband and wife team – and Cade was infinitely different, in better and hilarious ways.

His nose twitched when she released a breath, and when he began to stir, Mira stood and draped his jacket over her arm and smoothed her hand over the leather. Cade stirred fully, and sat up, raking a hand through his long locks. He paused when he saw her with his jacket, and clapped a hand to his chest as he stretched the other over his head. Somewhere in his shoulder region, Mira heard a pop.

He smiled softly at her. "You make a habit of sneaking up on sleeping guys often?" He snorted out a breath and shook his head, before he slapped a hand to his unshaven cheek to wake himself. Then, he stretched his legs, and reached for his toes. Somewhere, Mira heard another pop of his joints, and visibly watched him relax as a result.

She grinned at him, rolled her eyes, and tossed the jacket at him. "It's not my fault you're a deep sleeper," she chastised him softly, before gesturing to his form with a hand, "and by the way, you were snoring. I could've slit your throat and you wouldn't even have known about it." She tossed a handful of her curls over her shoulder, before she moved to the fridge in hopes of retrieving a beer of her own.

His feet fell off the stack of boxes, and he stood to stretch, again. The top of his head almost touched the ceiling of the trailer, and the two of them together greatly dominated the small space. He tossed the jacket on the spot he'd abandoned, and reached for her, to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close, effectively halting her advance towards the fridge.

Mira's stomach burned with fire as if it had been ignited with kerosene, like it always did when he looked at her with half-lidded eyes and a grin. She subdued, and joined their bodies together, grabbing at the front of his filthy white t-shirt. She gave him a lopsided grin and quirked a knowing brow at him, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead, lovingly.

"Good thing I know you better," he replied casually, before he brushed aside a curl from her face. "Sideswipe and 'Bee back from patrols, yet?" He changed the subject, but didn't change the undertone rumbling around his chest.

She shook her head. "Nope," she checked the watch on her wrist, "They aren't do for a check in for awhile, yet," she wrinkled her nose and took his chin between her fingers, giving him another knowing look, "And Merrick is off practicing with Crosshairs, so…" she shrugged her shoulders and chuckled, "..we're alone, Mr. Yeager, for once in an eternity."

In a quick movement, Cade had wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled them both down onto the creaking couch before Mira could finish her thought completely. The trailer swayed with the movement, and Mira let out a screech of surprise as they both fell heavily onto the material of the trailer. Before she could even think, Cade had pressed her against the adjoining wall, and had run his fingers midway through her hair.

He gave her a lopsided grin. "I don't need convincing," he promised, "you honestly could've just asked and not given me a sit-rep," he chastised her playfully, pressing his forehead softly against her own. He kissed the corner of her mouth, and Mira let out a chuckle and gave him a quirky grin, before gently pushing him back.

She shrugged a shoulder. "Hey, it's taken me a long time to get that commander-like demeanor. Don't be so quick to get rid of it." She gave him an over-dramatic, half-lidded look and tacked on, "Besides – you could be a little more commanding. It's a bit of a turn on."

His brow spiked to attention. "How'd you know that?" he asked with a chortle, before Mira rolled her eyes and shoved him off of her. Cade, however, pushed her shoulder back against the fridge and dipped his hand beneath the collar of her new moto jacket. He was about to fish his hand beneath the collar of her shirt when he paused and retracted his hand to run it down the sleeve of the material.

"What's this?" He asked, brow wrinkled, "Did you go shopping without me?" After a moment, he lifted a finger and shook his head, surprised, "Because if you did, how did you do it? Or was it ordered from Ebay or something weird?"

She snorted, "If you call stopping Drift from gutting out Daytrader shopping, sure I did." She bit her lower lip, smiled at him again, and teased the end of his hair with a finger, "Now – are you going to observe anything else besides my jacket, Cade Yeager? Or do I need to paint you a road map?" The undertone littering her own voice was enough to startle even her, and a blush rushed up her neck to blossom on her nose.

Cade didn't seem to mind. Instead, he laughed at this, and didn't respond with any words, only pressed a kiss on her mouth that was as telling as Mira needed it to be. She had all but rendered herself helpless to him as he helped her out of her jacket, when suddenly a part of her heard feet shuffling against the packed dirt, and felt the trailer rattle with the additional weight on the step. Her instincts told her exactly who this intruder was, but her body didn't react fully.

"Mom," came the familiar tone, "I –"

Mira gasped and practically shoved Cade off of her, sending the man reeling backwards on the couch, away from her. He stopped himself smoothly and rolled back on his knees, giving her a somewhat confused and disgruntled look as Mira brushed the hair from her face and sat up into a criss-crossed position. She blew out a breath, and grinned stupidly at the boy standing in the doorway.

Merrick had taken on more of Will's features than he had Mira's – he had the same light hair, and dark eyes that Will had, and his jawline was defined and straight, unlike Mira's round features. He was trim and broad already in the shoulders, which he inherited from Mira, and possessed milky skin. Merrick wore his hair longer, like Cade, and had noticeable freckles, and wore black-framed glasses, like Mira had once done herself. Right now, as an awkward eight year old, he was lanky, and his faded Nintendo graphic t-shirt and dirty Levi jean's were testament to it.

Mira's stomach fluttered into her chest as Cade tried to edge closer, but she put a stilling hand to his chest to stop his assault and lifted her chin to Merrick, in question. "Yes, hon – what's up?" She swallowed, in hopes to regain her breath, which she noticed had been knocked out of her by the man currently scouring her with eyes she could very easily lose herself in.

The boy's face was red as Drift's chassis, and that was saying something, because he was already sunburned from having spent hours outside with sun reflecting off his face. "I was just coming to get some water," he mumbled, looking to Cade and then down to his feet, nervously, "Uncle Crosshairs made it priority one." He flashed one finger to make the point, and ducked into the trailer fully.

Mira's brow lifted in surprise, before she nodded slowly. "Sure, Merrick – thank Crosshairs for me," she waved him inside the trailer, and shared an equally surprised look with Cade from the corner of her eye. After a moment of listening to the boy rummage through the fridge, she added, "He told you it was 'priority one'?"

Merrick ducked back out of the fridge snapped the cap on the reused water bottle, and took a long drink. He wiped the water dribbling on his chin and nodded his answer before he added, "Yeah. Priority one. He told me to get back STAT to work on stealth exercises." He shrugged nonchalantly, as both his parents stared at him across the trailer. Mira was sure her mouth had dropped open, but when she reached up to cover it with a hand, she found it was closed.

Mira's brows rose fully at his use of language, and she lifted the corner of her mouth in a quirking grin at the comedy. Merrickw as eight years old, and could not possibly understand the language dynamic he was currently shadowing. It was almost comical, and Mira had to refrain a chuckle. "Merrick," she asked him, "do you know what that means?"

Cade waved his hand through the air to Merrick, gesturing at the boy. "Yeah, kid," Cade snorted, "that's some pretty chop-shop talk you got going on there. Crosshairs teach you that?" He folded his hands behind his head and gave Mira a knowing look, as if catching her concern, before they both glanced back at the boy looking between them.

Merrick shrugged before stuffing the half-empty bottle in the back pocket of his jeans. He raked his hair out of his face and tromped towards the door. "Yeah, kinda. It's how everyone talks around the scrap-yard. You, Mom, Drift – everyone." He was as nonchalant as if reciting the roster of a school class instead of a cluster of Autobot illegals, but that didn't surprise Mira as much as the accusation the boy hadn't even known he'd made.

At this, Mira and Cade shared a look yet again, and the boy bounced out of the trailer. Mira could hear his, "Hey, Crosshairs – what're we workin' on next?" even as she knew he ventured deeper into the scrap-yard, away from the trailer, and out of sight and mind for the boy himself. She heaved a sigh, ran her fingers through her hair, and let it fall back onto the edge of the couch.

She let out a groan. "I'm rubbing off on my kid and turning him to a G.I. Joe Junior," she mumbled, scrubbing her face with a hand, "I didn't think he'd pick up on this stuff so _early."_ She turned to face Cade and let out a puff of a sigh, before she pushed herself off the couch and reached for her jacket.

Cade lunged for her arm, and pulled her to a halt. He shuffled her forwards, until her knees touched the edge of the couch, and grabbed her by the waist. He looked up at her and shook his head. "Who better for him to learn it from than a Mom who loves him like a crazy, a step-dad that would give his right arm for him, and a bunch of robot Uncles that adore him? I think if he's going to learn anything from anyone, we should be glad it's that."

He stood, pulled her forward, and lowered to press a soft kiss to the gentle place behind her ear that almost sent her knees buckling forward. She put a steadying hand on his forearm, before she glanced out the window just over Cade's shoulder – she could see Crosshairs gesturing wildly with his hands to Merrick, who was sitting criss-cross on the top of a Ford pickup trick as the Autobot paratrooper regailed him with some story or another, with wild hand-movements to match.

She chuckled against Cade's cheek, "You're too smart for your own good," she mumbled into his ear.

He chuckled, "I know," before he released her and she turned from him. Mira slung back into jacket, and Cade did the same, before the exited the trailer and meandered back in the direction Mira had come, only veering off to a larger machine shop nestled back against the main fence to the south.

There, the main door was open, and in the darkness of the shop, Mira could make out the hulking figure at the computer set-up. Bryce Savage, her brother, sat on top of the oil barrel, watching the screen and slowly kicking keys on the keyboard as his attention was glued to a screen before him. He didn't even notice Mira and Cade enter the shop, until well after they'd already approached him to check on his work.

Mira's brother had been involved with the Autobots for years after her initial involvement, and he'd managed the technological aspect of the government's NEST operations with a few key human players and mostly Autobot support during their military days. A resulting injury had left him stateside, mostly ruining his left foot, and rending him practically immobile. He ran communications and covert, technological operations for their _Tenebris_ group – he, with his knowledge and learned skill from Autobot tuteledge, kept them dark and off the map, while simultaneously monitoring the government's communications for any pickup of Cybertronian arrival and movement on Earth.

Somehow, he'd managed to piggyback off the government and was able to track everything they did without getting caught – one of Cybertronian tricks, Mira knew. Her brother shouldn't be underestimated, but she knew he was – he'd been responsible for making her and Cade's marriage legal, after working backchannel's and managing to bring it altogether over a matter of days. He'd also single-handled cloaked their entire operation, and made it impossible for the _TRF_ to pinpoint their exact coordinates.

She leaned against his workbench, and picked up a pencil to begin twirling it through her fingers. "What're you up to, brother?" She socked his shoulder playfully, aware that it was as solid as he was – for a technological guru, Bryce was hulking, and easily towered over Cade in weight and muscle. He posed a demeaning creature, guru or not. "Anything on the news worth watching?"

Bryce paused his work, lifted his hands from the keyboard, and shot her a quelling side-look. "As if you need anything else to worry about," her brother scrubbed his face with a hand after he rested his glasses on top of his bald dome, "but to answer your question, not really – Bumblebee just pinged in and said he and Sides are on their way, circling back. Hound and Crosshairs are already prepping for their southern sweep."

Mira nodded her understanding. "Sounds good. Make sure they debrief with you, and rest easy. Scan for anything incoming in the atmosphere, and ping me the results. I want to log them." She tapped the implant buried across the bottom of her left wrist and lifted it for a visual effect, "I might go out and do a run myself a bit later."

Cade's brow spiked over his eye. "Like you need to do that," he waved it off, "If 'Bee and Sides already did a perimeter check, you don't need to babysit their work. I say you take the night off and just chill out for a couple of hours," he approached, clapped Bryce on the shoulder, and thumbed to Mira, "Tell her, Bryce."

Her brother snorted, "You're married to her – if you can't convince her, to Pit if I can," he puffed out a breath, and pushed away from the computer, "I'm going to walk for a bit to unstiffen my legs while this complies data. I'll be back shortly." He waved at them, and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair to sling it over his shoulder, replacing his glasses as he went.

Mira nodded, and Cade saluted the man as he stalked out of the shop. She and Cade hung around only long enough to short through whatever information Bryce had managed to pull for the day, and they only abandoned their work when the roaring company of engines suddenly happened upon the air, and the yellow and black Camaro pulled to a slow halt in front of the shop, recognizable enough.

Mira tossed the paperwork she'd been studying on Bryce's desk, and Cade sauntered out of the shop behind her. Both of them shielded their eyes against the sun, which glinted off the Camaro, as Bumblebee revved his engine in a greeting and set to his shifting – within moments, he had compiled into his robotic form, and took a knee to quirk a look down to Mira.

" _Greetings, Captain_ ," the radio crackled to life, " _I…am so happy…to see you're alright."_ He waved at Mira, who smiled at him and saluted lightly. Cade nodded his greeting and gave a passive wave, before Sideswipe pulled up and transformed himself, to stand beside Bumblebee.

He clapped a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Did the bot that doesn't speak manage to say too much already?" When Bumblebee blitzed what sounded like a defeated bleat of static, Sideswipe paused. While he made light of Bumblebee's mute lack of tone, he playfully slugged his arm with a sympathetic look, as if he understood the joke had gone too far. "Sorry, 'Bee," he said quietly. To Mira, he nodded, "Hiya, Mira – Cade."

Mira gestured between them, bracing her legs a shoulder's-width apart. She lifted her sunglasses on top of her head. "Hi, guys. Bryce said you didn't find anything out of place. You managed to spot Daytrader, though?" She questioned, gesturing with a hand. Mira wondered what their cover would be for not reporting the trader's presence, but guessed it would be hysterical, whatever they came up with.

Sideswipe nodded, and Bumblebee managed to eke out an " _A-okay,"_ from the radio. That wasn't exactly what she had been hoping for, but she guessed her look of questioning said enough, because the two shared a look and gave shrugs of dismissal back at her so quickly that she rolled her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose.

Cade snorted and shook his head. "A little head's up would've been nice," Cade grumbled, squinting against the sun. He reached up to lace his hands on the fallen canopy's structure above him, and leaned forward. Mira turned on her heel to look at him while he added, "you guys know better than to leave us cold shoulder without warning. Daytrader is _news_ , no matter what planet he's on - or what badge he wears."

Mira shot her husband a look and rolled her eyes, trying to retain the snort that had tickled her throat. She didn't. "As if you had to deal with him," she replied casually, before turning back to her squad-members before her, shaking her head as she did so. "Anyway – Bryce'll be back shortly for a debrief—"

There was a sudden scream in her ear, and then the ferocious blinking of an incoming message synced from Bryce's communications center in her left eye, which gave Mira pause. Immediately, she whirled around and touched the implant along her left eye, stalking around Cade and back into the shop to Bryce's cave of technological wisdom and power.

Bumblebee ducked into the machine shop on his knees to follow, and Sideswipe peered inside as Mira seated herself at Bryce's terminal and logged herself in. Before she could even think otherwise, she triggered the implant on her wrist to disengage a probe, and reached over to the tower sitting on top of the desk. The implant scanned the USB port, and immediately inserted a probe into the slot.

Instantly, she was on the network, and opened the notification. Her right eye scanned the information on the screen as her left eye processed the data and stored it in the memory of her implant – the radar images showed an incoming object into the atmosphere, with a life-sign that was familiar. Mira instantly recognized it as a Cybertronian lifeform, and she whirled around in her seat to face Cade.

"It's not coming into Chicago," she inserted, disengaging from the computer tower, "It's just outside of the city." Popping to her feet, she touched the implant again and opened a comm.-link to the Autobots within vicinity, "Calling all Autobots – we have a flyer. Repeat, we have a flyer. Disengage and rendezvous at these coordinates. Drift, Grimlock – you stay and set up a perimeter. Someone might be watching, after all."

She waved her hand in a circular fashion through the air, rallying the bots around her to follow. Mira marched directly passed the trailer, Cade behind her, to the Fairlane parked halfhazardly on three tires. Rounding the disintegrating vehicle, she slammed a fist on the trunk hood, and the chassis rattled before she found the trunk release and lifted the hood. A patch of rust fell from the undercarriage, onto her booted foot.

She began rummaging through the stash of weapons, when Cade grabbed her wrist. Her had snapped up and she gave him an irritated look, before his brow peaked and he held her attention. He asked quietly, "Mira – it might not be him, you know," his tone was hesitant, but present, as if warning her to think fully before she raise her hopes. What he didn't fully understand was that her hopes lived on being raised, and didn't know another function.

She jerked away from him, wrapped her hands around the Cybertronian blaster, and drew it to her shoulder to brace against her wrist. Handing a similar one to him, she cocked a brow of her own and sighed, "I'm not willing to take that chance," before she slammed the trunk of the Fairlane and marched back around the car, "If he's out there, I have to get to him before they do."

Gesturing to Bumblebee, she added with a flit of her hand, "Bumblebee – you're with me and Cade. Hound, Sideswipe, you'll split and go east and west. Sideswipe will hang back and provide sniper cover should we need it." She shielded her eyes, glanced up at the sky, and did a quick check for any probes she may have imagined overhead, out of habit.

Hound rumbled a, "You're the boss, boss," before he shifted into his own vehicle form, and rolled out towards the main gate, where Bryce was already at the ready to open it and log their exit. He peeked his head out of the shop's main door, saluted to them, and watched as the team rallied to move out towards the lifeform entering the atmosphere.

There was a slight tremble to the ground, followed the by the loud and irritable crunch of metal. "Comprende," Crosshairs suddenly appeared, Merrick on his heels, and saluted a greeting to Bumblebee before the bot dropped down into his Camaro mode seemingly without effort. Crosshairs threw a salute to Bryce, and nodded to Mira and Cade before completing his own transformation.

Merrick ran up to Mira and wrinkled his brow, watching as the group of cars revved their engines and awaited the further exchange of orders. The boy's face, though sunburned, had taken on the pale pallor of worry, and Mira silently cursed herself for getting hasty in her excitement. "I didn't hear the alarm –" he started, but Mira shook her head and pulled him close, to press a kiss against his forehead quickly.

"Everything's fine, Merrick – just a landing," she added hastily, "go wait with Drift and Grimlock. We'll be back soon." Without another word, Cade embraced the boy, kissed the top of his head, and sent him off with a clap to his shoulder and light wave. The boy jogged out to meet Drift, who was awaiting Grimlock's arrival a few paces behind the machine shop.

Crosshairs followed Hound out of the main gate, trailed by Sideswipe, until Cade and Mira ducked into the Camaro and checked their weapons quickly, before they fully settled into the Autobot's vehicle for the ride.

Mira gestured to the radio, and slapped the steering wheel lightly. "Floor it, Bumblebee – if Optimus is out there, I'm not one to keep him waiting," she ordered hastily, her heart jumping into her throat. As Cade checked the ignition chamber of his weapon, he gave her a weary look, as if subtly warning her that they'd done this song and dance before, and what outcomes they'd already acquainted themselves with.

The radio buzzed in reply, and before Mira could add anything else, the Camaro peeled out of the scrap-yard with a cloud of dust left behind.

* * *

He settled into his shocks along the curb, watching the blinking notifaction on the Mustang's computer console slowly pull closer and closer to the earth, awaiting the transmission he knew would be upon him in short moments. His very chassis was crawling with the idea of the new arrival, and he could almost taste the steely grit in the back of his mouth as the transmission pinged him.

" _Find the arrival, and make sure it is properly terminated_ ," came the order, in more of a demonic growl than a commanding ore, _"and if you find Yeager and her people, I suggest you eliminate them. That is priority one_."

He sent off the affirmative, aware that it was not a suggestion as much as it was an expectation.


	3. Chapter Two

_**Author's Note:**_ Greetings, friends! Alas, I bring you chapter two of _Time of Knight_. I cannot tell you how excited I am to get this off the ground - I have so many ideas working through this head of mine that it is unbelievable! That being said, I must offer a huge thank you to all the people who have already gotten behind this story and ventured over from _Uprising of Extinction -_ I am both honored, and flattered, to have you along for the ride.

Also, wanted to draw your attention to a couple of things. For those of you who have seen _The Last Knight_ , you know the history of the film's focus, and the object thereof. I wanted to say that I did a complete one hundred and eighty degrees and changed things up a bit to be more in line with the history of Mira Lennox-Yeager, so there are some massive plot changes, hence the _AU_ portion found in the biography.

Secondly, big shout out to **AutobotGuy710 _,_** who has so graciously allowed me use of his original character, Mark Savoy (if you haven't read his piece _A Matter of Fate_ , I highly recommend it - that's where Mark is born!). I'm not sure yet how involved Mark is going to be in this tale, but I'll figure it out eventually. Hopefully I do him justice, and thus bring more color and intrigue to this story!

And finally, third - I totally faked you guys out with the arrival of a new Autobot to earth. Alas, it is not the knight from _The Last Knight_ , Steelbane, as many of you are likely anticipating. It's someone else who will play a key role in this piece later, and I wanted to tell you that I changed him up a bit from _Transformers_ lore. He's based off of a character from the TV show _Transformers: Prime_ , and I'm excited to introduce him. I just imagine him so easily flowing into _Bayverse_ that I needed to bring him in. Also, yes, Sideswipe is alive for all of you who are wondering - I love him so dearly and just couldn't get rid of him.

All of this to say, I hope you stick with the story and continue to leave feedback! I can't wait to continue this, and am writing it in every spare moment that I have! Needless to say, I'm working hard and long hours (having already seen _TLK_ twice, now!) so this is a great place to get my creative juices flowing and spawn some inspiration. Check out what's below, drop a note on the way out please, and I'll see you soon.

* * *

 **England - The Dark Ages** _  
_

 _The very depths of time seemed to tear through her body; slowly, with deliberation and determination, as its grit mercilessly dug beneath her nails as her fingers drug against the lush English grass, pull by pull, waiting for the sweet release of death. The wretched curse flung her sanity against the walls of hopelessness, where pain and heat seared away all reason, and spiraled her downward into the black abyss of solidarity._

 _Her throat concaved closed before it burst open painfully to release a shriek that made the perspiration on her body freeze. It echoed against the hills and jagged rocks; empty, as if they had thrown it back to her in stony ignorance to her plea. A chill rattled her spine in her back, and slammed her lungs against her ribs to the point where she expected them to burst onto the grass beneath her body. Her legs burned, and her heels were bloody from constant pressure against the jagged rocks – her shoulders were bruised three different shades of black as she arched her back against the hard, unforgiving rock behind her._

 _Her mind seemed to burn as if ignited with flame, as her abdomen contorted and compressed tighter; muscles pulling and stretching for survival. Pressure that seemed to keep the very world stable was ripping through her abdomen – her legs were numb. Sweet, merciful God it was beyond painful, excruciating wasn't a definition. It was if hell itself had been planted within her body, and now clawed for release with every passing moment._

 _And then, as if cued in a dramatic play, her body relaxed and the pain evaporated without notice. She collapsed against the grass, gazing into the gray sky that drizzled down freezing rain that seemed to evaporate as it pelted onto her skin. Her hair was matted against her face; elegant braid long since dispelled, flowing across the earth and the front of her gown, which had been soiled and torn during her departure from the camp. Jaggedly torn along the bottom, it was sopped with a mixture of mud, dirt, blood, and water collected from her journey through both the English countryside, and pain. She closed her eyes, gasped for relief, and let the cool breeze numb her skin to the point it was flaring red and stinging – she tasted the sweet water on her lips, and swallowed back a haggard and shaky breath of exhaustion._

 _She relaxed fully into the stone behind her, counting mentally the moments until she would again rear back against the rock in pain. Even now her body was rendered into a dull state of throbbing pain, but that was tolerable. Swallowing back another gasp, she flexed her toes as if to make sure they were still attached to her body, and lifted a leg weakly – they were marred with dirt, water droplets, and blood – she couldn't imagine what her gown looked like, and instead dropped her leg back to the ground and looked down her front._

 _Long since having removed the corset, she noticed that her breasts had swollen out of her wrappings, and now spilled over the cut of her bodice. They were not the only aspect of her form to grow outward, however – she ran a slow and trembling hand over the rounded sphere that had become her abdomen, and let her head fall back against the stone again. She closed her eyes, clamped down her jaw, and snorted out a breath._

 _She gasped when she felt a spasm race down her spine. "Curse Arthur and his fellowmen," she snarled in a moan, "and curse any son of Adam who would dare lay a hand on me again!" Her scream overtook her words, and launched across the air again as her body convulsed, and the accursed pressure returned to her abdomen, bearing her legs upward and rendering her in half._

 _The child within her moved, as if desperate to stay entombed within the sanctuary of her body, where the world was hidden and unseen, and the agony was deep. For months she had known this child was conceived for a purpose beyond her – for a destiny she could not give while serving within Arthur's chamber of maidens. She had needed to leave weeks ago, but had refused – it had gotten far too difficult to hide her pregnancy, but she had desired to stay with her fellow maidens, to help them with their own difficulties, and keep the Knights at bay. While she had been exhausted from carrying a child, they had been exhausted at the hands of Arthur's deprived and spent Knights. It had only been when the pain had started, and she knew beyond reason that it was her time, that she had left Arthur and his camp without word._

 _There had been a time where she had desired to child to stay unborn, to stay away from the accursed world she had been doomed to, and the shame her kind carried. The world was no place for a child to be born, especially hers, where the judgment ran thicker than blood. But this child – conceived of royalty, to be birthed in a time of hopelessness and Armageddon was her moment; the moment of her life, the moment she had been born to serve. Someday, this descendant of Arthur, however hidden, would change the world – at least, that is what the being had told her in her dreams, and she had clung to that hope as the child within her was wove together by the very hand of God._

 _However, now beyond all hope, she desperately desired the child to come, for if she endured much more, she was certain she would die. The journey away from Arthur's camp had sapped any strength she had mustered, and this effort was rapidly depleting her resolve. Whatever woman had said that childbirth was a glorious affair had been_ daft _._

 _Finally, after another hour of intermittent relief found her as she felt the child enter the world. Managing somehow to bring the child to her breast, she had done her best to clean her baby with the saturated remains of her gown, before she swaddled it in the remainders of her petticoat. As the child now nursed against her, she collapsed against the stone behind her again, now utterly exhausted._

 _Her body could no longer stave off the pain, and her mind could no longer endure the horror. Blood eked out of her body slowly into the earth, as it staining the ground with the legacy of her efforts to serve as a reminder of the events that had transpired. Her body was speckled with red dots of broken vesicles within her skin, and her eyes were swollen. She could no longer speak, or scream, and her lungs were burning as if replaced with hot embers from a dying fire. She could feel her body slowly floating above the state of unconsciousness, and she knew it would not be long before she was rendered to its dark hold. Then, she and her child would perish within the English hills, and her legacy would be no more._

 _Her head lolled against the stone, desperate to catch a glimpse of the grey sky overhead. The child was heavy against her arm, and she mustered the remainder of her strength the rest the child against the swell of her belly. Her other arm fell away into the grass, and she parted her lips to let out the last remainder of a cry she could muster, until her throat collapsed into a raw silence. Her heartbeat rattled faintly in her chest, and she could barely make out the soft coo of her child as it fussed against her breast._

 _She closed her eyes, ready to fall into the embrace of darkness. However, just as she was almost entirely embraced, the ground trembled radically beneath her body. A spike of awareness bolted her awake with a jolt of adrenaline, and she cowered against the stone, pressing the child against her chest with sudden and renewed vitality. Her body trembled, in fear or due to the shake of the earth she wasn't sure, but her mind was reeling in hope of discovering the sudden cause of the earth's unease._

 _Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw movement, and turned entirely to glance around the stone. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened to produced a muted scream, and she backed away from the stone, her one hand digging within the earth to propel her away from the danger now before her. Her ehad craned back to stare at the figure that loomed in the sky as her heart slammed hard against her chest like a battering ram. It stared down at her, gripping the stone embankment with a large hand, and bent low to look around it at her._

 _It had the shape of the man, but the height of a giant, and was entirely consumed in metal. For a moment, she wasn't sure if the being was comprised of metal or was simply clothed in it, but she understood that her mind had drifted into a mental state of insanity at its presence. For a moment, she wondered if she was hallucinating, but the scream of her baby and the tremble of the earth as it approached reassured her that she was indeed still consciously sane. She took a moment, in her hasty retreat, to notice that it looked like a knight in armor, complete with a sword and shield and helmet that covered half of its face. Glowing eyes of blue stared at her through the dreary rain, before it approached again in a stride and took a knee before her._

 _Exhausted, her arm buckled, and she hit the earth hard, the back of her head slamming against the grass. She clutched the child tighter to her chest, before she managed to roll to her side, despite the shrieking pain that rattled through her body. Immediately she noticed that she had left a trail of blood as she'd made her retreat through the grass, and her body was shaking in pain and cold and fear as she glanced up at the being, so alien and terrifying that her heart seemed rendered to a perpetual state of arrhythmia beneath its gaze. Her throat was mute, and her lungs were filling with a trembling shriek of terror that she couldn't release, and her head was swimming with pain and exhaustion. Tears dripped down her face slowly._

 _Typical of a knight's armor, the being's body shifted and scraped against metal as it extended a finger to her, as if pointing to accuse her of existence. But, however, she noticed that it gave her a look of empathy, or pity, and turned its palm upward before it stood and approached again, slowly. In two strides it was upon her, and knelt to stare down at her as it towered heads above her small form. She somehow managed to curl herself into a ball against her child, muffling its scream against the flesh of her chest, as her own body trembled with each sob of fear that was pitted within her like a seed._

 _She noted the massive hand that pressed softly against the earth to stabilize the being, which she had surmised was an alien. "I mean you no harm, human," it said slowly, "I have come to your aide. What do those of your world call you?"_

 _The voice was obviously male, and slowly melodic, with a tinge of strength which reminded her of the numbing principals of rum. She unfurled her body to look up at the being, her eyes swimming with uneasy blurs, and swallowed back a breath. Suddenly, she let out a moan of pain as she felt a wash of blood exit her body, and when she looked to her feet, she saw the pool growing out from beneath her body. Somehow, she mustered the strength to sit up, though she leaned heavily on her arm, and her fingers buried themselves into the earth for leverage._

 _With drooping eyes and strength, she looked back up to the being of metal before her. "I," she croaked, her words scratchy against her throat and slow with delirium, "I am Athora Sav…Savageian, maiden of the Round Table, servant of His Majesty King Arthur, and…" she exhaled a breath, peered up at the alien again, "…and at your mercy. Help me – if not for my own benefit, but for that of my child. I beg of you, being of greatness – help us."  
With that, she was consumed by blackness, and if she had been coherent, she would have wondered how a being of such great size could have managed to catch one so small. _

* * *

_"Kathara! Kathara, do come inside before you catch your death!"_

 _Kathara Savageian shrugged her shoulders forward, before she stood tall and tossed the braid over her shoulder to brush the droplets of water from her arm. Running her hand along her forhead to brush away the fallen tendril of curl, she glanced up at the darkened sky and then glanced over her shoulder, where she found her mother standing in the cavern's mouth, arms crossed over her chest in wait._

 _Then, she looked up to the being standing to her right, who replaced his weapon in the sheath behind his back. He looked down to her, nodded, and turned to extend an arm towards the cavern, in a silent consensus with her mother. Defeated, Kathara navigated her own blade back into the sheath behind her, where it fell into home with the other object kept beside it, and brushed her hand against the fabric of her breeches. She then turned to trudge up the hill towards the cavern with her awaiting mother waiting inside._

 _The rain pelted against the metal of her own sword and that of the being behind her as he followed slowly behind in steps that shook the earth. He easily kept step with her and had to slow exponentially, again, to keep pace beside her. Her heart pumped steadily as she dodged the rock formations that speckled the earth, until she looked up at the being and heaved a frustrated sigh._

 _She brought her braid over her shoulder again, absentmindedly. "I do not understand why I must abstain from my people, Father," she looked down to her booted feet and paused to absorb the tremble that the massive being beside her cast with each tread, "if I am as you say, why must I stay away? Would I not be more beneficial to my people, as well as your own, if I understood them?"_

 _Before they reached the cavern, the metallic being beside her stopped. Walking a few paces more, she effortlessly stepped up onto a large rock, and squared her shoulders in a silent show to stare up at the knight before. With half of his face covered by his helmet's shield, and the rest intricately woven with scars and metallic plating, he took a slow knee before her, still a massive thirty-some feet taller than her, and pointed a large finger at her._

 _The Cybertronian alien, known to her as Dragonicus, heaved a deep sigh before he pressed his fisted hang against the soft grass of the earth, which caved only slightly against his weight into a crater. He leaned over her slightly, the rain dripping from his armor and into her face as she stared up at him. She blinked away the water droplets from her eyes, and lifted her sleeved arm to swipe at her forehead, again. His faded red armor, a testament to his greatness, shifted as he looked past her to take in the figure of her mother._

 _The only father whom she had ever known looked back at her, an expression of pride evident in the slight upturn of his mouth. "In due time, my child, shall the moment of your christening into your people rise. Until that moment, it is best to wait patiently for others that usher in its arrival." He nodded towards the crevice. He gestured to the weapon sheathed beside her sword, and pointed a steady finger at it. "For now, your priority rests with the staff, and it is imperative that you learn to guard it – you are no good to your moment unprepared and untrained. That is what I taught your mother, and that is what I shall continue to teach you. There can be no victory without sacrifice."_

 _Her brow fell into a frown. "But how much sacrifice must I give, Father? I have already spent my entire life in these hills, away from my own kind, abiding with yours in wait for a moment that may not find me until I am old and beyond my time! What good is the promise of a moment if there is no one to bare its legacy?" She stepped off the rock, and threw her hands into the air, "Am I to forever abide in a ship with beings that are not my own kind? Tell me, Father, how will our legacy continue if it dies in the arms of a race that is not my own?"_

 _Her mother looked wounded as she approached the cavern's mouth. "Kathara," she said quietly._

 _She glared at her mother as she squeezed the rain from her braid over her shoulder. "Do not," she warned her, shaking her head, "just because you have loved one of them, does not mean that I will. Our destiny cannot live and die with Cybertronians – our worlds may be joined as one life, but there is more life to be had."_

 _The rain fell away as she stepped beneath the canopy of the metallic cavern, and she shouldered past her mother, plucking the staff from her sheath to enter further into the darkness of the vessel that was home._

* * *

The shrill, erratic squeaking birthed from a bent rim and thus a lopsided wheel bearing was almost as obnoxious as the heat, but was bearable in comparison. Dripping with perspiration and head-to-toe filthy with dirt, cement dust, oil, grease and a myriad of other substances, Izabella struggled to walk any faster beside scraggling bot to her left, and the guy to her right.

In the year since the death of her parents, Izzy had been struggling, it seemed, in every waking moment of her existence. Getting away from the system and dodging the idea of foster care had taken a good chunk of her optimism before she'd settled herself her in the illegal, black-ops side of Chicago. In an effort to deal with the despair and grief from the lack of family she felt in her heart, she had attempted to make another of her own in the No Man's Land of the warzone as the Transformers came pouring into the planet's atmosphere, one after the other.

She assumed it was the common sense of homesickness and loneliness that drew her to compassion and understanding to the aliens. Actually, she _knew_ those shared factors were what kept them close and helped them relate in their transition to Earth, because she had known many enough that had been killed in the government's resurgence that she had loved as if they were her own blood. They, too, had seemed fond of her in their efforts to keep her alive – those like Squeeks and Canopy, the last remainder of those close to her, whom had dedicated their lives to making sure their motley trio continued to survive.

Then, of course, there was the guy she had picked up along the way. Izzy didn't know much about Mark Savoy, only that he had lost his father in China during the Autobots' stand against Lockdown. Oddly enough, he harbored no ill will towards the Cybertronians, because he had been in turn adopted into their own idea of family – how and why he'd ended up in Chicago when he had the support of the Autobots, Izzy was unclear, but regardless of his reasons, he had needed a place to go and was okay with the threat of her pace of life, so she'd adopted him into her survival clan. She would've bet her last nickel that the Autobots and their leader, Mira Yeager, hadn't missed the boy as much as he missed them.

Regardless, having another human around that could speak her language and get her sarcasm was nice, and having the extra set of hands to work on projects was an added plus. It had proved useful in her rescue attempts with the Cybertronians – and Mark's knowledge of the species she wasn't ungrateful for.

She slung her backpack up over her shoulder, before she lowered the bandana from her face and heaved in a sigh of somewhat fresh air. Raking the back of her hand across her forehead, she mopped the sweat, and looked down to Sqweeks, who clamored to a halt and looked up at her, too. Squinting against the sky, Izabella shielded her eyes against the sun and puffed out a breath before pointing.

"It came into the atmosphere and angled south," she traced her hand along the sky to the south, and nodded her head, "just out of the city. If we hurry, we can just make it." Adjusting the grip on the strap of her shoulder, she looked to Mark, who nodded his understanding and raked a hand through his hair.

At fifteen, he stood a few inches taller than her, but was broad in the shoulders and was currently sporting a sunburn on his nose. "How do you expect to beat _TRF_ there?" She smiled at him before she jumped off the pile of rubble they'd scaled and backpedaled away, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. He added carefully, "You know they're going to be all over it, Izzy – why push your luck?"

She grinned at him and shrugged a shoulder, "I got a few tricks up my sleeve," she wrinkled her nose, "in fact – I've got a couple of them. Keep up, Mark, and get ready to learn somethin'." Then, spinning around on her heel, she led the group away from the jagged remains of Chicago's No Man's Land, and into what used to be an overhead parking garage.

"And besides," she concluded, "I'm not banking on _TRF_ making contact first. I'm betting _Tenebris_ beats us all there."

* * *

They were about an hour from the LZ, but Autobot speed and agility, doubled with enthusiasm and desperation, got them there a little under forty minutes. Mira had tried not to stare at Bumblebee's speedometer needle as it dipped well into the hundred mark, though she could've sworn that both her and Cade's attention couldn't have been pried away for more than that.

Her attention was finally diverted once they were out of the suburbs of Chicago, and well into the countryside. Rolling pastures and farmed land spread out around them, littered with the organic greens of growing life and plants that all promised prosperity for the future; all things that were very much unlike Mira's current state of affairs, and promised even more obscure and skewered results. The only thing organic life promised her, it seemed, was trials and heartbreak when she lived in a world of steel and hope.

The craft's signal veered off the road, so Bumblebee and the other's took to off roading through the fields and pastures of farmland. Mira felt solemnly sorry for the destruction, but shrugged it off – it wasn't her fault the Cybertronian life-form had landed in a planted field, and regardless, Mira had stopped feeling sorry for members of a society so bent against empathy and compassion. Instead, she braced her weapon against her wrist, processed the new information filtering through the CAST system in her left eye, and smoothed the dash with her palm before looking to the radio as the LZ came in sight just a few yards ahead.

She gave a slight upturn of the corner of her mouth to the radio, "Nice work, Bumblebee," she praised the Autobot, "Hold this position until we can ascertain that the target is stationary." With that, Bumblebee eased off the accelerator, and coasted to a halt among the fronds of planted corn.

Mira registered that the other Autobots were present a few yards around her as she and Cade exited the Camaro. Bringing the weapon around, she checked the chamber of the alien weapon and approached the landing zone, which was extremely evident given the shaved back corn and scorched crater before them. Silently, she gestured for Cade to do a quick perimeter recon, while simultaneously signaling Bumblebee that it was clear for him to transform and accompany their duo.

He did so, and bore his weapon; battle-mask dropping into place with a _shink_. The Autobot lumbered behind them, and his radio squeaked and blitzed, _"Attention, ladies and gentlemen – attention…! Guests arriving…in t-minus ten….minutes…don't be late."_ Mira checked her shoulder, and nodded her understanding.

They approached the landing zone, until they reached the edge of the crater and Mira raised a silent fist in a holding position. Cade and Bumblebee came to a stop at either side of her, and she lowered her weapon. The smoldering vessel was smaller than any Cybertronian vessel she'd ever seen, roughly the size of a semi's trailer, but in the shape of a crescent moon. There were no outer weapons that she could distinguish, and the armor was singed black with deep wounds and various other gouges, whether from entrance into the atmosphere or previous battles, Mira didn't know. What she did know, however, was that this vessel wasn't Optimus Prime's, and her heart sank in her chest.

After a few moments of silence and paralysis on the air, Mira slung the weapon over her shoulder and glanced at Cade. "I don't think it's hostile," she touched the side of her temple, "if it was, they'd already be trying to take us down." Looking up to Bumblebee, she gave him a light grin, "Ready to play welcoming committee, 'Bee?"

 _"No, really?"_ Came the radio's reply.

He let out a squawking blitz and a shrug, as if visibly portraying that it was the best response he could manage, given the radio waves. Mira smiled at him, nodded her understanding, and gave him an empathetic look. Then, she lowered herself into the crater and set to a slow, scaling slide downward, until her booted feet hit the ground of the crater. Bumblebee followed, and they both glanced up at Cade, who was crouching at the mouth of the hole and saluted to them.

Mira nodded to him and turned, moving around the dips and uneven swells of dirt and field littered around the ship. Once she was close enough, she scanned the ship for surface temperature, and found that it had already cooled significantly and she was able to place a steadying hand on the foreign metal. Cybertronian metal felt exponentially different than Earth's materials, and almost had a smooth fluidity to it, like a hardened version of silk that was oddly uniform, but also an anomaly. Her brow furrowed slightly when Mira didn't find any sort of markings on the vessel, until she and Bumblebee rounded to the front and found no cockpit.

Bumblebee thumbed up, signaling that the entrance hatch must've been through the top. Mira nodded, and glanced at the machinery, for any sign of footholds that she could navigate. Bumblebee offered his hand to lift her midway up the ship, and she complied, finding a foothold and hand-grabs that would serve her in her scaling. Once she managed to pull herself to the top f the ship, she looked down at Bumblebee, and approached the aforementioned hatch.

Kneeling and before she could reach to release the hatch, it popped up with a depressurizing hiss, and slowly began to lift. Startled, Mira fell back on her bottom, and hustled away from the opening, towards the edge of the vessel. Her heart began to hammer, realizing that whomever was inside was capable and alive, and she hustled to her haunches and brought her weapon around.

Cade must've seen her. "Babe – what's goin' on?" He called, his voice echoing across the cavern. It seemed to bounce off the metals of the ship back at Mira, and she shook her head and glanced over her shoulder to Bumblebee, who fidgeted on the ground beneath her.

She puffed her hair out of her face. "Whoever this is, they're alive and well," she called back to Cade, "Brace for potential hostile!" She ordered, bringing the Cybertronian rifle to her shoulder. She focused the sights on the hatch, braced one foot behind her, and let the weight of the weapon fall into her hands and out of her shoulders. Sweat dribbled down into her eyes, but she ignored the sting, and waited motionless. Below her, she could barely make out the sound of Bumblebee preparing his weapon through the pulsating blood in her ears.

With an erradic hiss, the hatch fell the rest of the way open and clattered against the top of the ship, fully exposing the hole. There was movement, and the scuffle of metal on metal, until two hands appeared on the ledge of the hatch, and hefted the form of the being out of the hole. They eased out effortlessly, before standing fully to look down at her. Mira's body was entirely cast over in the shadow of the being, who stared at her with blue optics, and raised a hand before it shook its head.

Obviously male, given its build, Mira couldn't distinguish a faction of Autobot or Decepticon as she peered against the sun. "Easy there, champ," came the low gruff, "I don't want no trouble." His other hand raised in the air slightly, before he leaned forward to bend at the waist to peer at Mira, fully. "In fact, I'll be willing to bet your just the gal I'm looking for."

Mira' brow spiked to attention as she filtered in the face staring down at her. The white bot, accented with green and red, had the appearance of an older Cybertronian – perhaps around the same age as Optimus, but looking more distinguished and weathered in his features. He was shorter than Prime, maybe a little taller than Bumblebee, and was broadly built – given the sharp edges of his form, Mira would've guessed he had taken the form of a Cybertronian performance vehicle, as he hadn't yet assumed an earth vehicle, yet.

Then, her eyes drifted downward to his chest, where she could see the scarred and faded Autobot insignia barely legible among the littered scrapes, gouges, dents and smears that made up his armor. Once she'd registered the mark, she quirked a brow of curiosity at the bot, and cocked her head slightly to the side before she slowly – _very_ slowly – lowered her weapon from her eye. She nodded to his chest plating, and gestured with the rifle at hand.

She pinned him with a narrowed look. "That mark on your plating still current, or should I make it ancient history?" She stood slowly from her haunches, and Mira held his attention as he righted to a standing position, but continued to gaze down at her. His look could only be described as amused, but his hands still were in the air, regardless. "State your name, affiliation, and purpose for being on my planet. You have exactly five seconds."

Before Mira could raise the weapon again, she was pinged by Bumblebee to stand down, but the bot before her was already chuckling and shaking his head. "Considering your size, I'd say you've got some brass bearings, kid. The name's Wheeljack – I served during the war as a Wrecker, under Ultra Magnus' command, and I'm here because I heard this corner of the galaxy was the popular getaway locale for Autobots. I'm guessin' you're Mira, and that Prime isn't on this world, yet." When his optic ridge lifted, he added with a snort, "That about cover it, Chief?"

Mira's shoulder flexed slightly under the weight of her rifle, but she lowered it to her size. However, she tightened her hold on the grip and wrinkled her brow at him. "You know Optimus, then?"

The bot called Wheeljack seemed to understand he wasn't in immediate danger, so he lowered his hands and nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, once. We weren't close or anything, but I served with Prime. Heard his message that he broadcasted awhile ago, just never got around to getting' here. Figured now was as good a time as any to make a trip." He glanced around the perimeter of the vessel, then back at her, "So, am I in the right place or what? You the femme I needed to hook up with on this rock?"

Astounded by his message, Mira nodded and looked down to the ground, where Bumblebee was looking up with anticipation at her. His optic ridges flickered in and out, and he pressed a hand against the side of the ship, rising on his servos in an attempt to get a better look. Mira looked back to Wheeljack, and raised her chin in an acknowledging nod before she slung the rifle around to her back and flashed a thumb's up to Cade, who was watching through the scope of his own weapon.

She cupped her hands around her mouth, "We're good, babe," she called out to him, before glancing over her shoulder at Wheeljack, "And yeah, you're in the right place. My name is Mira Yeager, and I'm running the Autobot operation until Optimus gets back from his journey in discovering his Creators."

Before she could add anything more, he let out a guffaw of surprise. "When Optimus said you were an unlikely ally, he really meant unlikely. You're a human." He stepped off the ship and pummeled into the earth, shaking the ground and the ship to the point where Mira swayed on her feet. He registered Bumblebee with a nod and then looked back at Mira. "I didn't think Optimus was serious."

She snorted, and lifted her wrist to show him the engraving of Cybertronian. "Well, he was serious," she added quickly, and waved him to follow, "I don't mean to sound rude, but we've gotta go – this world doesn't take kindly to humans, but that's a story for on the way. Reunions can wait. We'll get you an Earth based vehicle mode, and then we gotta split.

He gave her an uncertain look. "Not sure that I like your tone, girly," he added with a gruff snarl, before he opened his mouth to speak again, "In fact, I don't think I do –"

Mira whirled around, pinned him wih a glare, and triggered the CAST system in her eye. Immediately, the familiar Cybertronian lettering on her wrist implant illuminated with a piercing blue, and she lifted it for him to recognize. "Like it or not, I am the Countess of Iacon, and the Keeper of the Shield – and, you'll do exactly as I say, if you want to get off this world alive."

Pausing to arch a brow at him, she glanced at Bumblebee and jerked her head towards the way they'd descended the crater. "Bumblebee, let's roll," she checked her system for any sign of the accompanying Autobots, and glanced up at Cade, "The _TRF_ won't be far behind."

With skeptical compliance, Wheeljack followed out of the crater. To him she inserted overr her shoulder, "Welcome to _Tenebris_ , Wheeljack. There's a lot I have to tell you."


	4. Chapter Three

Barricade stared down at the vacant crater, narrowing his optic ridges as he set to a perimeter scan. Stretching wide his search parameters, he was enraged to find that there were no Autobot life-signs within the vicinity, and that it had been entirely evicted of any foreign presence.

Silently, he cursed Mira Yeager and her team of Autobot rebels for a successful retreat, while also extended them impressed congratulation – they had managed to beat Earth's American government to the crash site, and thus won another prize low under the radar of the _TRF's_ understanding. Their forces were growing, slowly, primarily due to human incompetence.

He turned from the crash site, rolled his shoulder, and opened a communication link to send a transmission. His master would not be pleased at this development, that much was for sure. And, Barricade was certain he wouldn't be pleased with his master's reaction, as it would be harsh and costly all the same.

Mira Yeager was gone – and with her, a prime opportunity yet to be fully comprehended.

* * *

It had taken an hour of breaking squad to locate Wheeljack an appropriate vehicle form that was neither outlandish nor utterly ridiculous. Once he'd ascertained the 2016 Dodge Charger from a nearby lot and scanned the schematics, they set out for the journey back to the scrap-yard, Cade and Mira leading the company with Bumblebee's assistance at the head of the group.

 _ **Biological abnormality detected – initiate bioscan?**_ The blinking notification in Mira's left eye gave her more of a headache than a spike of concern, so she just sighed and dismissed the system's notification. Something, she was certain, had glitched in the CAST armor's program, though she hadn't been able to detect anything through an extensive scan of her implants and Cybertronian biology. Whatever abnormality existed pertained to the rest of her anatomy, and Mira had neither the time, nor patience, to discover yet another jumbled function of her body. She was already a walking jigsaw puzzle.

Once dismissed,Mira sank back in the driver's seat, and lifted the Cybertronian weapon from around her shoulder and let it fall into the backseat easily, not giving it a second mind as her shoulders relaxed fully from the additional weight. She rolled her neck slightly before reaching up to knead the sore muscle of her shoulder, before Cade reached over and brushed aside the collar of her shirt and newly acquired jacket to stare at her shoulder. Both of them considered the blazing red raw mark on her skin before he shot her an arched brow of disapproval.

He sat back in his seat, turned to face her, and propped an elbow on the sill of Bumblebee's passenger window. His fingers raked back through his air absentmindedly, like usual. "You ever going to get it through that thick skull of yours? That frickin' weapon is too heavy for you." He gestured to her with a flippant hand, "For God sakes, you're a walking cyborg with a built in, highly-advanced alien weapon's system at your disposal. Your shoulder's eventually going to swell out of your socket, and then you'll be up one real good."

She let her head fall back and smiled up at the ceiling of the Camaro, before she closed her eyes lightly and released a dramatic sigh. Then, she lolled her head across the headrest to looked at Cade, and reached out to take his hand affectionately. Brushing her thumb over the top of his knuckles, she gave him a light grin and a low chuckle. "You worry too much about me, Cade Yeager," she lifted her hand to tuck his hair behind his ear, ultimately letting her fingertips brush along his stubbled jaw, "and believe it or not, you are susceptible to gray hair."

He rolled his eyes, whipping his hands into the air in exasperation. "Alright, be flip," he scrubbed his face with a hand, "just don't ask me to fix your shoulder. I don't do surgery." At her snort and Bumblebee's throaty chuckle, Mira focused her attention back on the road leading directly into the junkyard.

Bumblebee pulled off to the left shoulder, allowing Hound and the others to enter the yard first. Parked on a horse outside a small trailer that looked as if it had survived the apocalypse sat Sherman, or "Chief", as the squad had deemed him. He was chief of the tribe which owned and operated the scrap-yard's land, and had assisted the Autobots by providing them refuge outside of Chicago for a little over a year. Ultimately, he was a decent guy, though he grew more and more frustrated with the Autobots' cavorting around his scrap than he would've let on.

He threw his shoulders back and lifted his chin at the Camaro, and Mira imagined he was giving them a sharp look beneath his sunglasses. Then, reaching up, he tipped the brim of his Stetson down over his eyes and waved at them, as Bumblebee rolled down Mira's window. She draped an arm out of the car and grinned up at Sherman.

Saluting him lightly, she nodded up to the man. "Hey, Sherman," she chirped, "thanks for keeping watch again." Cade dipped low over Bumblebee's console to wave a greeting at the man, before he nodded his head in Sherman's direction appreciatively. Mira added, "I hope Merrick didn't give you any trouble?"

He shook his head. "No, the boy is fine." Then he sighed and leaned forward, cupping his hands over the horn of the saddle. The horse beneath him snorted and shifted its weight on its legs, as if it could sense the man's mounting aggravation. "I see you found a new recruit. This one doesn't eat cruisers, I hope?"

Given his flat tone, Mira understood that Sherman was still sore about his missing tribal patrol cruiser, which Grimlock had snagged into the yard on numerous accounts. Mira bit her lower lip and had to suppress a chuckle – she could feel Bumblebee's mute attempt at a chuckle as well, and drummed her fingertips against the vinyl along the door in recognition.

Cade shook his head. "Nope – he's not a cannibal, best we can tell," he sat up and fell back into the seat, nodding at Mira. He gestured to her with a hand, "Says he knows Optimus from forever ago, so we're going with it." When Mira nodded her consensus, Sherman visibly deflated and waved them off.

Sherman grumbled, "Sounds about right," before he turned the horse away and clicked his tongue in a verbal command to guide the animal away, down the road. Bumblebee angled his driver's side mirror to watch the man go, before he rolled up the window and the radio sparked to life suddenly with a loud buzz.

He revved the engine. " _A little prickly, that one there_ ," came the radios chirp, before the gear-shift visibly moved into first gear and the Camaro pulled towards the front gate of the scrap-yard. He rolled through gently, as Bryce remotely opened the gate, only to be greeted moments later inside when Merrick came hustling up, fresh sweat staining his shirt and a small cut above his eye.

Mira slipped out of the car with smooth ease, and Cade followed with their weapons, nodding to Drift and the Dinobots that recognized their arrival at a distance. Mira frowned at Merrick, took a knee, and brushed her thumb along the small cut over his eye. When she pulled it away, she examined the blood and wrinkled her brow before she gave Merrick a suspecting look.

She stood and crossed her arms, jutting out a demanding hip. Merrick visibly deflated. "What have you been up to, son?" She gestured to him with a wagging finger, before she jerked her head towards the abandoned machine shop, where Bryce was set up. "March, young man. Let's just hope this isn't a tetanus type of injury." With that, Merrick spun on his heel.

He perched himself on Bryce's desk, where his uncle was busy watching monitor's and screens while simultaneously looking over printed off diagrams from NASA. He lifted his glasses on top of his head to scrub his face with his palms, but Mira only gave him a somewhat concerned look as she managed the first aid kit from beneath her brother's desk. She dropped it beside Merrick, opened it, and began rummaging for peroxide and a small bandage.

She cocked a waiting brow at her son. "Well, spit it out, Merrick," she sighed and unscrewed the peroxide lid, "you can't tell me anything I will be surprised at. I won't lecture you, since the last dozen times hasn't done the trick yet."

He shrugged and swung his legs back and forth, darting his eyes away from her in submission. "I was just doing some training exercises with Drift," he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, "I slipped on a rock and scunned up my eye. That's it. Drift said it looked okay."

Mira rolled her eyes. "Drift wouldn't be surprised at a severed limb, either," she mumbled, "but I agree – you're going to live." After she'd cleaned the wound and bandaged it, she shook her head at Merrick and gathered the kit's supplies, "We'll keep it dry and look at it in a few days. For now, just…make sure you mind your footing, mkay?" With that, she kissed his forehead, and sent him off with a light smack of his shoulder.

He beamed, squeezed her around the middle, and looked up at her. "Thanks, Mom," he said, before shooting a grin to Bryce and darting out of the shop. His Uncle seemed to ignore the situation altogether, however, instead focused entirely on his project at hand. Mira felt oddly sure that she should be involved in whatever he was assessing, but determined that he would tell her in his own time, and reassured herself of that assessment before she replaced the kit and exited the machine shop.

Cade was busy sorting through weapons and other odd-ended entities on a makeshift table comprised of two saw-horses, a slab of steel, and an oil barrel position just off to the left. Beside him was Wheelie, who was looking over his shoulder, and past their scene, Mira could see the Autobots taking to their own throughout the scrap-yard. She approached the table as Cade turned what appeared to be an old Gameboy through his hands.

He acknowledged her with a lift of the device, and pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head. "Babe, take a look at this," he flicked it with his nail, "it's an old Gameboy Color. You remember these things?" He gestured to it with a hand, "Think Merrick will get a kick out of it?"

Mira smiled at the man, coming up alongside of him to lace her arms around his middle and rest her chin on his shoulder. She looked to his hands, which were excitedly navigating the gaming device, and shook her head against his shoulder. His starry eyed expression of interest was enough to rapture her, and Mira was suddenly so thankful that Cade still had a bit of the bright, passionate inventor in him that she had admired the first time they'd met. While he'd indeed changed into a more mature survivalist, she so loved the moments where the engaged man of mechanics peered through the dark veil of circumstance.

She shrugged a shoulder. "He might for two seconds, before he spouts off about something Cybertronian related," she rolled her eyes and turned away from Cade, to rest her back against his table and cross her arms in front of her. Now facing the opposite direction he was, she looked up at him and added, "Besides – can we even use it? I'm sure whatever it's made up of has some potential to be traced. And I don't think Bryce is in the mood to debug an outdated game."

He snorted, "Yeah, that's true," before he dropped it and Wheelie rolled forward to examine it with a cocked head and a confused expression on his metallic features. The bot turned it over in his small hands, before he looked up at the pair with a disgusted, somewhat disgruntled look on his face.

He threw it over his shoulder. "I will never understand this frickin' planet," he mumbled, before Cade's eyes grew wide as the device skittered across the dirt to a stop away from the table. He flinched, and pulled away from Mira, to intercept the discarded technology.

He whirled on Wheelie. "Hey, this is vintage!" he grumbled under his breath, before slipping it back into his pocket. Looking to Mira, he gave her a somewhat defeated shrug before sauntering back over to place his palms on the table top. Hanging his head, Wheelie scampered off, and Mira again laced her arms around his middle and rested her cheek against his shoulders. She closed her eyes and released a small sigh of contentment.

Cade clapped a hand over Mira's, which were fisted at the center of his abdomen, and guided her around front, where he gently pinned her between himself and the table. He studied the implant at her temple with his eyes as he gently snaked an arm around her waist, and interlaced his other hand with hers. His thumb habitually traced her wrist implant, and he gave her a somewhat disappointed sigh.

Mira had known for awhile that Cade regretted the decision to give up their home in Texas, after she'd overheard the conversation between he and Bumblebee one night outside the trailer. After Joshua Joyce had graciously offered to rebuild Cade's home, he had declined, and instead had opted to stay in Mira's basement as Tessa had gone off to college. And, after they had become fugitives and married, Mira had abandoned her ranch in Texas and they'd settled in Minneapolis, for awhile, before landing themselves in Chicago. It was the biggest disappointment to not only Mira, but also Cade – she could tell he felt like a failure as a provider, and wished beyond everything that she could reassure him that he was all she could ever hope for a husband, and that he was doing a fine job.

She tipped her head to the side and brought her hand up to brush along his chin. Giving him a flat-lipped look, she said quietly, "Hey," she lifted a brow suggestively and grabbed his attention with a light lift of her shoulder, "smile for me, would you? Why don't we take the night off and just kick up? I'm sure Drift or one of the bots will be okay keeping Merrick entertained."

At this, Cade gave her a slight grin, and lifted her chin to tip her head back. Brushing his fingers along her forehead, he nodded his affirmation of the idea. "Sounds like a plan to me, Yeager," he drawled with a slight rumble in his chest, "I have just the place. Let me see if Bumblebee wants to tag along and I'll be back." With that, he backed away from her to fade into the growing evening, while Mira instead shook her head and glanced around the scrap-yard for any presence of her son.

After a few yards of walking amongst the compacted cars crushed into trash, Mira found him sitting with Drift, marking in the dirt with a stick while Drift peered above the boy just slightly behind him. They looked like they were drawing some type of Cybertronian lettering, which didn't surprise Mira – Optimus Prime, as her guardian, had taught her Cybertronian during her years in NEST, and she had wanted to pass that tutelage on to her own son, and Drift had volunteered as the boy's mentor.

Though not guardian bonded like she and Optimus and Bumblebee and her brother, Drift and Merrick shared a special bond that Mira anticpated would someday escalate into a guardianship. Drift was almost as protective of the boy as Mira and Cade were, and spent much of his free time in the boy's presence. In turn, Merrick adored his personal "Sensei", and absorbed any attention Drift – or any Autobot, for that matter – would throw his way. He especially seemed to shine under Drift's patient and gentle hand of mentorship, which Mira was grateful for. If Optimus wasn't around to guide her boy in the way of the Autobots, she was thankful for Drift's investment to the cause.

Mira came up and placed a hand on Merrick's shoulder, before taking a knee beside him. Drift acknowledged her with a nod. "Commander," he gestured to the scratchings in the dirt with a hand, "how wonderful for you to join us. Merrick was just about to look for you."

Mira gave Merrick a confused and expectant look. "For what?" she questioned, "I was just coming by to ask if you'd be alright with keeping an eye on Merrick for the evening? Cade and I were going to go for a drive and talk for awhile." The look on Drift's face assured Mira he had conjured up much more of an undertone to the statement than she had offered, but she didn't mind and gave him a lopsided grin.

He waved his hand, nodding. "Of course. I'm sure there is much we can do in the evening hours." Drift lifted a finger to the sky, "Like working on our stargazing, for example. Given the positioning of the moon, and Earth's rotation, I would say we have an excellent chance of spotting a few planets – with Cybertronian help, of course."

Merrick's head snapped up, and he immediately popped to his feet to discard the stick he'd been drawing with off to the side. Looking down at his mother, he beamed brightly, before Mira shuffled him close and pressed a kiss to the side of his cheek. "Be good, and stay safe," she warned him with an arched brow, then wagged a finger at him, "and don't give Drift or anyone else any trouble. Understand?" She ran a tender finger over the bandage above his eye, examining it briefly.

The boy swatted away her hand. "Yeah, yeah," Merrick added, visibly deflating at her lecture. Then, he peered up at his friend and moved passed his mother to rest a hand on a small plating section of Drift's leg. "What planets can we see, Drift? Saturn?"

He shrugged and laughed, before offering a hand down to the earth for Merrick to step onto. He stood fully, raising the boy to his shoulder, before he withdrew his blade and pointed it to the sky which was already beginning to fade into pastels of orange, pink, and light blue. "Well, perhaps so – though I should tell you, Saturn is not as beautiful as everything thinks. It's a dreadful planet." With that, he nodded to Mira in a departing gesture, and tromped off with Merrick on his shoulder, head craned back to gaze up in the waning sky.

Mira looked back at the Cybertronian littered throughout the dirt as Merrick and Drift made their exit, and gave a lopsided grin. She lowered to a knee, and brushed her hand along the dirt to rid the world of the markings of another, until she glanced up at the fading sky and heaved a low sigh. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and closed her eyes to breath in the still and cooling air of the evening. The moon was beginning to appear, and soon the sky would be black and littered with familiar constellations.

Mira's lips parted into a small smile. "You'd love him, Optimus," she looked down to the implant on her wrist and traced it over with a light brush of her fingertips, "He's just like Will, in every way. I wish you could see him." Looking back up to the sky, she stood and brushed her dusty hands on her jeans, "Come home soon, Prime – we all miss you."

Turning on her heel from the sky, Mira trudged back towards the scrap-yard with her hands in her pockets. A small part of her tinged with grief at the realization that Optimus wasn't here for her to talk to, but she often relieved the sadness with small examinations of their past together and their moments of friendship. Being bonded to him, their relationship was complicatedly deep, and Mira missed Prime beyond belief. She missed him more now than she did all those years ago when he'd vanished into hiding, and that was probably because she knew there were millions and billions of miles between them. His warm tone, endearing concern, and noble wisdom was nonexistent and missed, and try as she could, Mira knew she could never truly replace Optimus as a leader in her own heart, or the sparks of the Autobots.

She came upon their trailer, to find Bumblebee idling outside quietly, lights on and windows down. She rounded the Camaro, and patted the hood before dragging her fingertips along the smooth chassis, to which Bumblebee a slight rev of the engine in an approving growl. She stopped at the passenger door, and watched over the roof of the car as the trailer's lights extinguished and Cade stepped out of the trailer with a leather jacket slung over his shoulder, a blanket beneath his arm, and a military pack at hand.

He grinned at her and lifted the pack. "I thought a few drinks might make the evening interesting," he nodded to the Camaro and popped the latch on the door, before dropping inside. Mira followed suit, grinning at him stupidly, before he handed the pack and blanket to drape the jacket over his lap. He looked to the radio. "Alright Bumblebee – you know the spot. Let's go."

The radio's colorful neon suddenly dimmed, and it clicked on, softly. " _You're the boss, boss,"_ came the snarky reply, and it suddenly cut out with a soft buzz of static. Mira and Cade shared a smile before Bumblebee slowly shifted into his first gear, and the Camaro pulled away from the trailer.

They traversed a good twenty minutes from the scrap-yard, on a route that Mira knew well since their arrival to the spot in the outskirts of Chicago. Soon, they found themselves at the bluff that overlooked the scrap-yard, a darkening sky stretched out before them with pinpricks of starlight and a crescent moon to welcome them into night. Before long, Bumblebee cut the engine, popped his doors, and shooed them out with a blitz of his radio. Mira and Cade exited the Autobot's vehicle and grabbed their items, only to stretch out on the Camaro's hood comfortably.

Bumblebee, they had learned, was decent and respectful enough during their miniature night traverses to at least watch quietly, instead of provide dialogue. Most often, Cade and Mira themselves were quiet – satisfied enough to simply be, in a quiet and seemingly normal existence. The other Autobots that had accompanied them – primarily Sideswipe and Crosshairs – had made a show their affection, whereas Bumblebee was either passively interested or quietly observant. Whatever the reasoning, Mira most enjoyed Bumblebee's peaceful and laid-back tone of being, and liked having him along for these moments with Cade.

As they settled in with their beer on the hood of the Camaro, Cade was the first to kick back. He crossed his feet at the ankles, and lifted an arm to welcome Mira into a snuggling embrace that she obliged. She worked off her boots, dropped them over the side of the car, and rested her head against Cade's shoulder as he rubbed her arm affectionately. Lifting the blanket up around them, they sat quietly, mostly stargazing, somewhat observing the scrap-yard. Bumblebee seemed to sink farther into his shocks, whether because of the added weight or an attempt at relaxation, Mira didn't know.

Before long, Cade lifted his hand and worked her hair out of its braid, fingering it down over her shoulder before he began to trace small circles on her arm, which almost put her to sleep. It was only the soft beat of his heart against her cheek that kept her fully awake, as well as the freezing beer bottle at hand. After finishing off his own, he tossed the bottle down beside his boots, and wrapped his other arm around her front to lace his fingers on her shoulder in an embrace.

After another long moment, he added quietly, "You ever thought it would come to this, Mira?" He heaved a deep sigh, which triggered her reaction to look up at him, "we were _normal_ once, remember that? It feels so long ago that it almost doesn't seem real, anymore. I can remember once just working to make ends meet, and now I couldn't get work even if I tried. Never thought my life would amount to running from the government and sanctioning alien refugees while my daughter is off at college."

Mira snorted and released a puff of a sigh as well. "Yeah," she shook her head slightly, brushing aside the fallen curls from her face, "I know. I sometimes wonder if Optimus made a mistake; putting all his faith in me. I'm not much of a leader; camping out under the radar and thieving to stay alive. I can remember a time when I actually had to go to work – go to work, do a job, and go home. Now, my work _is_ my home." She rested farther against his chest, before looking up at him. "Not that I'm complaining – I can't imagine where I'd be without you and Merrick and the Autobots."

Cade gave her a cheeky half grin. "I can tell you where I'd be – digging around an old barn trying to get by on another failed invention," he snorted, "I can't tell you how perfect your timing was, darlin' – six months more of that and Tessa and I would've been camping out."

Mira sat up and frowned at him. "Don't say that," she swatted his arm with a hand, "your inventions weren't _failures_ , Cade. They were visions from a visionary – moments in a process to genius. Someday, you'll be back at it – at least, I'm going to try and make sure we get there, somehow." After they shared an exchange of just looks, she relinquished back against his chest, and added with a sighed mumble, "If the world can ever figure its way right side up again."

At that, Cade snorted, and shook his head before he pressed a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Your faith is inspiring," he then tipped her chin up to look at him, "and I'm sure that Optimus doesn't for one moment doubt your abilities, M. He cares for all of you – he wouldn't have left you in charge of his people if he had doubts."

She shrugged a shoulder. "He cares about you too, you know," she pulled at the front of his shirt and gave him a slightly lidded look before she quirked a brow, "make sure you don't forget – you're part of this family, whether you like it or not."

He snorted, "I'd better be more than just the hired help," he gently tweaked her nose, "especially since I'm sleeping with the boss." At that, Mira couldn't help but smile, and slid up Cade's side smoothly to kiss the corner of his mouth. Within a breath, he ran his fingers through her hair, pressed his mouth fully against her own, and gently shoved her shoulders down onto the Camaro's windshield, communicating a solid but also subtle message.

Then, suddenly breaking Mira's concentration from whatever glorious thing Cade was doing to her neck, a blinking notification grabbed her attention and sent a spiking, internal alarm through her body. Mira started, placing a hand to Cade's chest in an effort to stay his advance, and quickly cleared the notication. She couldn't, however, ignore it beforehand. _**Biological**_ _**abnormality detected – initiate bioscan?**_

Cade snapped to attention, bracing himself above her on his arms while raising a surprised and ultimately uncertain brow. "Whoa – what's wrong? Did you pick up something?" He glanced over the hood of the Camaro before rapping his knuckles on Bumblebee's roof – "Hey Bumblebee – did you get –"

She swatted his hand down. "Stop it," she said swiftly, "Cade, I'm fine – just an unexpected glitch in the system." She tapped her temple implant and collapsed back onto the windshield, letting her head fall back onto the smooth and cool glass. "It's been happening more frequently."

Cade's brow furrowed into a worried wrinkle. "I thought we already took a look and everyone said that it seemed normal?" He lifted her wrist and studied the Cybertronian technology intimately a moment before he ran his thumb across it and pressed a kiss to her palm. Then, lifting a brow, he shrugged, "I should run another diagnostic," he gave her a smirk, "just to make sure nothing's escalated."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "You think I wouldn't know?" She draped the back of her hand over her forehead and shook her head, chuckling, "And besides – that takes _hours_. My time could be better utilized somewhere else." She looked up to the sky, "Like running perimeter checks, or hacking NASA's database for anything useful –"

At this, the Texas inventor lifted his brows knowingly, before he brushed her curls away from her face and let the tip of his finger slowly fall down the curvature of her face. Before long, he lowered himself again to the nape of her neck, and pressed a delicate series of kisses along her jugular vein before adding with a rumbling growl, "I can think of better ways to utilize your time," he purred into her ear, "to name a choice few –"

She couldn't contain her laughter, and smacked his shoulder lightly when she felt Bumblebee tremble with a muted laugh, before the radio cackled to life with a familiar Marvin Gaye tune that he seemed to revel in. Mira snorted a laugh when Cade shot a glare to the windshield. " _When I get that feelingI want sexual healing…."_

Mira curled herself partially into a ball beneath Cade in an attempt to quell her laughter, before she smacked a palm against the Camaro's hood and shook her head, humiliated. "Bumblebee – that's not okay!" She inserted sharply, "You don't just say those things!"

Cade was grinning stupidly before he rocked back on his legs and rested his palms on his thighs. The radio cut out, instead setting to play a soft, melodic tune that was deep and comfortable, before he reached up to run his fingers through his hair to look down at her. He added with a teasing look, "He has the right idea," he shrugged a shoulder, "I mean, I couldn't have put it better myself –"

Mira rolled her eyes, propped herself up on an elbow, and grabbed the front of her husband's shirt. Quirking a demanding brow, she tipped her head back slightly, and gave him a somewhat lidded look. Without warning, Mira wrapped her leg around the back of his thigh, and in a quick flick of movement, she'd reversed their previous stations and now straddled him at the hips, the Camaro's chassis swaying only slightly at the sudden movement.

She cocked her head to the side, and played with the end of his hair, effectively wrapping it around her index finger to gently tug in a tantalizing way. She smiled at him, "There's an old saying in journalism," she said quietly, referring to her pre-war days, "show and don't tell – do think you can manage that?"

He nodded his understanding slowly. "Yes ma'am," he said with sudden seriousness, and gestured for her to come down with the crook of his finger, "I think I can manage that."

* * *

The world was cold and lifeless as it hung in the dark galaxy of space, void and still in its numb existence of vacancy. More of a carcass than a world; there wasn't much about it that could constitute it as a world, anymore – but once, oh but _once_ it had been a gleaming civilization of life brimming with vision, stamina, and promise. Once, it had been a home – once, it had embraced life while now it continued to dispel it.

Entering the atmosphere triggered his systems awake with a jolting shock, so much so that he didn't feel the impact with the earth as much as he felt the sting of circumstantial reality hit him like the proverbial truck. Shaking himself out of a stasis-induced haze had been difficult, as the world was blurry and foreign beneath him in an attempt to regain composure, but he had ultimately been able to position himself in an upright position on one knee to take in his surroundings.

With a heavy processor, and equally heavy spark, did Optimus Prime take in the world around him. Once, he had known it to be a world full of life and vitality while also a world stricken with the plague of war and destruction. Somehow, though, it had taken on the lifeless form of a husk of what was and could have been as he gazed around the now empty skylines and byways that had once riddled Cybertron with promising and intelligent life. He remembered, fondly, the times of Cybertron, while he simultaneously grieved those very same moments. With some difficulty and time, he was able to triangulate where on the planet he was, and he remembered that it was the ignition chamber located primarily in the southern hemisphere, not terribly astray from Kaon.

He rose slowly, groaning as life found him once again. How long had he been drifting throughout the galaxy in stasis? Given the stiffness of his joints and the ache throughout his form, he guessed a great deal of time had passed between his last coherence and now. As he stood and looked out into space from the planet's surface, Optimus found that he was standing before the mouth of a cavern stretching inward, which was still illuminated with piercing light and warmth that could only mean existing life.

He steadily trudged out of the crater he'd made upon landing, and reached back behind him to sheath his sword in his back plating. As he approached the cavern, he looked around and tried with difficulty to remember what exactly this place was, and why it was so difficult to remember. All he could really continue to muster in his wonderings, however, was the same statement over and over, which eventually found voice.

"My world," he breathed in a manifested sorrow, "what has happened to my world?" His own voice rang back at him from the empty void of the world lost before him, and it grieved him even more, to the point where he staggered against the cavern's massive wall. Steadying himself with a hand, he pressed his other to his processor in an attempt to right the mad wave of plagued information trying to circle around his thoughts.

However, the illumination before him made that difficult. "You world was destroyed," came the voice from the light before him, and Optimus' head snapped up to attention with a battle-hardened awareness that could only mean alarm. Instantly bristled; every nerve within his body tensed, and a spike of Energon rushed through him to propel him forward.

He felt now fear as he approached the light, entering into the chamber that suddenly took on semblance before him. It was massive, with a cathedral ceiling that had been once accustomed to the world of Cybertron, and intricate detail of Cybertronian architecture and engineering evident. It felt more like a tomb than a chamber, but Optimus didn't rightly care – all he could focus on was the pulsating light before him, until from it emerged a small figure hovering above him gracefully, with tendrils of bio-mechanical plating flowing away from her body.

Complete with almost human like features and a headdress semblance to that of mythical gods, Optimus did not recognize the being. She was exponentially small for being Cybertronian – if that was the race she had been forged from – and commanded the air to a bristled attention. Tense with rage and riddled with curious anxiety, Optimus stepped forward towards her with renewed purpose – whoever this figure was, she had survived on his world, and dared to speak to him now. Her survival, simply, made her a priority – she had information. Information which he needed, desperately.

The voice continued, "Your world is dying," it said, smoothly. Optimus thought is sounded like something out a dream – something riddled with a godlike power but also tinged with a searing sting of evil; slow like a seductress but also promising, like that of a figure of influence. "I've been waiting for you, Optimus." She added with a slight chuckle, "Come forth and meet your maker."

As he stepped into the chamber fully, he felt the spark of rage ignite in his chest fully. Whoever this being was, they were not an ally, nor were they circumstantial. By her testimony alone, Optimus knew that the events of earth had not been staged by an outside being from Cybertron, no – it was her, this being, who had driven him from his home on Earth and into the stars, whom had threatened all that he held close to him. She had taken the last semblance of peaceful existence from him, bringing him here – and she had threatened not only his life, but that of Mira and her family, and her world.

A threat to himself he could forgive – but to his guardian charge, never. The Matrix wouldn't allow such a extension, and neither would his own biological connection to the Countess of Iacon and his Shield's Keeper.

"You," he started with a spitting venom of hatred so severe that it would've surprised him had he been fully coherent, "you are my creator?" He stopped, and thrust an accusing finger up at her, taking a stance of power and authority that had become almost as expected as breath itself.

She outstretched her hands, and nodded slowly. "I am Quintessa," she said with seductive poignancy, "the prime of life," with that full statement hanging on the air, Optimus stepped forward again, this time reaching for his blade concealed behind him with the intention of rage set deep within his spark.

He growled, "What have you done to my home?" with such a snarl that he guessed it would've stopped a being of normalcy to consider their next action, but not this one. Instead of rearing to confront him in defense, the female Cybertronian came about in such a flawless turn that Optimus hesitated only a breath.

It was enough for her to reach with such a demonic snarl that it rang out across the air, as she outstretched a hand and struck him with a blast of energy so severe that his blade flew out of his hand before he had fully arched it back around from its sheath. It clattered to the floor somewhere off to his right, and before he could fully articulate what had entirely transpired, she was before him, and he was driven to his knees.

With a raise of her arms, suddenly he was chained to the chamber's floor and growling in painful agony, driven to submission before her floating figure. She stared down at him with an authoritative smirk, her eyes a glowing blue so piercing that he was certain he could have felt it deep into his soul, now seared with realization of his current predicament. Metal rang out against metal as his wrists were shackled heavily in strong cables of reinforced chain, and sparks flew out as his knees hit the ground beneath him with a loud and metallic _bang._

He snarled at her, from the depths of his chest, "I will _kill_ you!" He roared, his own timbre echoing back him with empty threats that he suddenly realized were worthless before her. He began to circle around him, before she suddenly reared her arm back and snarled at him like something from the Pit and thrust her hand towards him again.

He cried out again as a blast of energy rocked his circuitry, scrambling his senses and driving him further towards the cliff of death. He knew without a sudden doubt that this female would destroy him – figuratively or physically, it mattered not. He resisted futilely, in a desperate hope that he would overcome, while subconsciously knowing with every fiber of his existence that he could not.

"You would dare strike your god?" She snarled at him, "Your war doomed Cybertron," she added, before she looked over his shoulder and gestured with a wave of her delicate hand.

Before he could even fully swing his head around to glance at what exactly she had gestured forward, Optimus was rattled with a striking bow between his shoulders, which propelled him forward. He would have hit the ground face-forward, had it not been for his restraits – instead, he felt the pull of his shoulders give to the chains, and spiking pain blazed through his body to let out a moan of agony. He glanced over his shoulder slightly enough to realize that the massive being behind him, looking more like a demon than a sentient being, was snarling down at him with hissing grunts and Energon falling to the ground from his primitive, dripping craw.

He looked back up to Quintessa, growling, "Megatron started the war," he spat at her with a slight lift of his chin, again pulling at the chains for with a glimmer of expectational hope that they would give, "I –"

Before he could continue, the being known to him only as Quintessa grabbed his chin in her delicately firm hand and glared at him. "You destroyed you world, you fool!" She exclaimed, releasing him roughly only to rear back a hand. Within a matter of microseconds, she had had struck him with enough force to be questionable coming from such a small creature.

A shrieking pain implanted itself along the left side of his face, and with every etch into his armor, Optimus could feel a piece of his coherence drift away into nothing. It was like searing fire was eating away a piece of him that was irreplaceable, and with it, his coherence and sanity. He could feel a piece of his intelligence begin to crack, and his mind began to weigh heavily with the aftereffects of her strike against him. What had this witch done to him that made his mind feel so heavy, so suddenly? It was as if he had kissed death and now paid the price in biological currency, at the expense of his own being.

"You," she stated with a calm poignancy again, "my creation, once so perfect before your fall, are going to fix it – or the race of Transformers perishes into eternity." With this, she waved the being that had struck him from behind away, and she tipped her head to the side to study him. Optimus was finding it suddenly difficult to breathe, much less think, as he began to study her features and become muddled beneath her examination. Very slowly, he felt his memories begin to fade, and with them all recollection of the world he had left behind.

She chuckled and shook her head, ever so slightly, before she raised the back of her hand to slowly drag down the other side of his cheek. Optimus felt the spike of heat from her touch again race through his body, this time eliminating a part of himself that he had not felt for so much – he could even feel the memory fade away, this time taking with it his rememberance of not only Mira Lennox's face, but also her voice. Suddenly, as if she had never existed, he couldn't remember her face, or voice.

"I created you, Optimus," Quintessa said evenly, with a melody so unfamiliar that it struck him speechless. She felt distant and cold, so unlike everything that he had once cherished, while also being the only thing he could both remember and admonish. "You are mine to command."

There was little he could do to resist, so he looked away from her over his shoulder, desperate for a last glimpse of the galaxy outside of her before it faded from memory.


End file.
